James Cameron Comments On Women’s Portrayal In Action Films

Titanic director James Cameron thinks Hollywood movies “get it wrong when they show women in action roles.” The 3D-loving filmmaker, whose action films Aliens and Terminator 2 have been lauded for their portrayals of strong female leads, believes such a portrayal is only “remarkable by its absence in other Hollywood movies.”

Cameron spoke to The Guardian about the issue in Belfast, Ireland, while promoting the 3D Blu-Ray release of arguably his most famous film, Titanic.

Cameron believes mainstream action films depict women as either hyper-masculine or as “superheroes in shiny black suits, which is just not as interesting.”

He goes on to explain that as a man it is challenging to write strong roles for women: “Maybe it’s just a quest to understand women who are sometimes inscrutable.”

While Cameron has had success with onscreen females, his relationships with women in real life have not been quite as victorious. He has been married five times, currently to actress Suzy Amis, who appears in Titanic, and once to director Kathryn Bigelow, whose film The Hurt Locker beat Cameron’s Avatar at the 2009 Academy Awards.

Cameron also commented on a question bugging viewers for fifteen years: Couldn’t Rose and Jack have shared that wooden board? Cameron responds sarcastically, “Wait a minute, I’m going to call up William Shakespeare and ask why Romeo and Juliet had to die.”